Girl Meets Henry
by Joshua The Evil Guy
Summary: During the year that they were Cursed to Forget Storybrooke, Emma and Henry lived in New York City and Henry went to a regular school. And then the Wicked Witch came and they went back to Storybrooke. But what about the friends they left behind?
1. Chapter 1

Title: Girl Meets Henry

Author: Joshua

Disclaimer: Disney pretty much owns it all, both _Girl Meets World_ , all characters associated with it, and _Once Upon A Time_ , and all characters and concepts associated with that. I own nothing, I get paid nothing for this, and I'm only doing this for fun, please don't sue. Oh, and OUAT is set during the hiatus between the 'Frozen' half and the 'Three Villains' half of Season 4, while GMW is set sometime during Season 2, after "Girl Meets Rileytown" but before "Girl Meets Texas".

Summary: During the year that they were Cursed to Forget Storybrooke, Emma and Henry lived in New York City and Henry went to a regular school. And then the Wicked Witch came and they went back to Storybrooke. But what about the friends they left behind?

Story:

 _Once upon a time, there was a town called Storybrooke, where all the Fairy Tale characters we know fought for their Happy Endings. They lost. Returned to the Enchanted Forest they came from, the Savior, and her son, escaped the Dark Curse once more, while their Family faced a greater threat in the Enchanted Forest. For over a year, they lived a normal life in New York City, until the Savior was called upon once more, to defeat the Wicked Witch._

 _This is the story of those the Savior, and her son, left behind…_

OUAT_GMW

Things were finally getting back to normal, Emma silently mused to herself as she completed her patrol. Mary Margaret… er, _Mom_ , had finally given up her role as Mayor, which she'd never wanted in the first place. Emma, not to mention everybody else, was much happier with Snow White as a school teacher and pillar of the community, rather than as the Mayor of Storybrooke.

Stepping into the vacated role, and quite happy to have it back from what Emma could deduce of the woman's attitude, Regina resumed her position as Mayor, and aside from a single incident with a tiny bit of almost-arson (she fireballed her mom's painting, for crying out loud), she'd actually turned things around and gotten the town running smoother than ever. A few malcontents were grumbling in the background, but the vast majority, which now included the _entire_ population of the Enchanted Forest, plus a few, were quite satisfied with how she was handling the town.

David… _Dad_ , was quite happy being her deputy once more, and happily doting on her baby brother whenever he got the chance to. Despite being her father, he was really cool to work with, plus he never complained about having to take orders from her, nor doing all the paperwork.

Henry was starting the eighth grade now, and despite still being his teacher, his grandmother promised she wasn't showing any favoritism towards him. Considering the exacting standards she set herself to, Emma quite frankly believed her.

And then there was her 'extended' family to think about. Gold, Henry's grandfather on his father's side, had been run out of town by the man's own wife, Belle. Emma's "sister" in magic, Elsa, and the ice-wielder's own biological sister, had made it back to Arendelle without too much trouble, and was reportedly putting their kingdom back to rights. Robin, Regina's… _boyfriend_ , was actually still in town and seeing Regina at least twice a week for dates, while she and Henry usually took on babysitting duty for Roland.

As for her own boyfriend, although she had yet to say that word out loud, well, she and Hook were… good. At least, she certainly thought so. They'd gone out on more than just a handful of dates, and despite his guilt over trapping the Fairies in the Wizard's Hat, she felt that things were progressing nicely. She definitely felt more comfortable around him than she had at first, and it was getting to the point that she kinda missed him when they weren't together.

Cruising by the last of the "Border" roads, Emma Swan, Sheriff of Storybrooke, truly felt that her life was starting to get back on track, despite all the craziness of the last few years of her life. Maybe there was such a thing as a 'Happy Ending', after all.

And then a large minivan, which looked _way_ too familiar to her eyes, crossed the border from the other side and sped on past toward the center of town, effectively bringing the world crashing down around her ears yet again.

Spin-tailing the cruiser around, while turning her lights and siren on, despite the van going below the posted speed limit, Emma couldn't help feeling that she'd seen this particular van before. It wasn't until she'd caught up and pulled them over, just a few streets away from the town square as a matter of fact, that she finally noticed the bumper stickers and window decals. All of them proudly declaring the driver to be a supporter, parent… and _teacher_ at _John Quincy Adams School_ _, NYC_!

Turning off the siren, Emma just stared, her eyes refusing to blink as she finally realized how she knew this van. She just sat there, staring, her lights flashing and engine idling, but she just sat there. Probably for nearly five minutes, repeating over and over to herself, "No way, no way, no way, no _freaking_ way!"

Her first thought, after getting out of the spiraling loop, was, "I've got to call Henry!" Followed almost immediately by the dreaded revelation, "Regina's going to _kill_ me!" Coupled with, "My _parents_ are going to kill me!" Her last thought, before finally getting out of the Sheriff's car, was, "I wonder if Hook would be interested in running away together? Maybe back to Neverland…"

Walking as slowly as she possibly could toward the driver side of the minivan, she continued to argue with herself. "C'mon Emma, it's not the end of the world. Just… the only vestiges of your outside 'normal' life coming to Storybrooke… Oh who the hell am I kidding, it is _definitely_ the end of the world. Luckily we deal with the end of the world on a monthly, if not weekly basis around here, so… routine. Except there is _nothing_ routine about… _these people_. I need to call for backup! Only… that would mean calling my Dad… yeah, no. Just… I have no idea what I'm going to say, and I'm talking to myself. Way to go, Emma. Way to go."

By this point, unfortunately, she'd reached the driver side window and was not surprised in the least by who she saw driving, nor who she saw in the front passenger seat, not even who she saw scrambling to 'look over the shoulder' of the driver and in the driver side passenger windows of the minivan looking out. As the window rolled down, the blond sheriff took a deep breath, forced a friendly smile (which wasn't as difficult as she'd feared, much to her surprise) and said, "Hi Topanga. Hi Cory. Hi Riley, Maya." She waved at the faces in the back windows, "Hi Lucas. Hi Farkle."

Facing front again, she sighed and adjusted the Sheriff's Badge on her hip as she spoke to the New York Attorney driver. "What brings you to Storybrooke, Maine?"

"Oh, I think you know, _Sheriff_ Swan," said the lawyer with her 'shark' look on full.

Emma _really_ hated that look.

Well, when it was aimed at her.

Like it was now.

What was she going to do?

OUAT_GMW

Henry Mills was just getting out of class for the day when his world got turned up on its end, shaken up, put in a blender, used as fertilizer, masticated, shat out, and repeated four times over.

"THERE he is!" a _far-too-familiar_ voice screamed out throughout the hallway of _St. Poppins' Independent School_ , the only school in the whole of Storybrooke.

Freezing mid-step, Henry slowly turned on his heel and bore witness to the absolute destruction of his world in Storybrooke… as the world he'd left behind in New York City came barging in like… like… like Riley and Maya.

The tall brunette and the short blond tweens came barreling down the hall, Maya out in front, snarling at anyone slow enough to still be in their way, while Riley practically danced along behind her. Beyond their general attitudes, they also stood out for wearing their normal attire amidst a building full of uniformed students. Riley, as always, in bright colors and floral dress, Maya in earth-tones, grungy style with 'pre-torn' jeans and jacket, although he did notice that they were 'newer' than the last time he'd seen her.

Surprisingly, but less so after seeing Riley and Maya, Henry caught sight of Lucas and Farkle in the background. Just behind them, standing just outside the Principal's Office he realized, was Mr. Matthews, his wife, their son and Riley's younger brother… and both his Moms.

"Oh boy," Henry gulped and suddenly wished like nothing else that a portal would open up beneath him and take him back to Neverland, or the Enchanted Forest, or Oz, or even Wonderland! No such luck, as Riley and Maya reached him before anybody could throw any magic beans.

"What are you guys doing here?" he asked, his voice trembling slightly, as he was definitely in Fight-or-Flight mode at the moment.

"Duh!" Maya said, throwing her hands up like it was obvious, "Looking for you, _Hank_! You just took off one day after Lucas and Riley had their first date. One day you were there right behind Farkle, the next you weren't in class and vanished off the face of the earth. What's up with that, _Hank_?"

"You know I don't like it when you call me that," he replied, annoyed. "My name is Henry. And you guys could have e-mailed me. At least let me know you were coming."

"Yeah, except that whenever we tried to ask you where you went, you either ignored the question, or changed the subject," Riley said, stepping forward. "Why would you do that, Henry? We're friends, aren't we?"

"Yes!" he immediately confirmed. "We are friends. You're all still my friends and I am still your friend. That hasn't changed!"

"Then what has?" she asked, giving him that 'hurt-and-confused-puppy-dog-look' that she didn't even know she did in the first place.

"Something happened with my…" he started to say, but then he began to think, and looked down the hall to see both his mothers staring right back at him. "Something with my… my, uh… my…"

"Yes…?" Maya drawled out the word.

He looked back at his two friends and finally said, "Just… something happened. Something that isn't entirely my story to tell."

"So, what? You've gotta get your story straight?" Maya questioned him with a raised brow.

"Something like that, yeah," he agreed without thinking.

Rushing past them, he made his way toward where all the adults were congregated outside the school office. "Moms, what is going on? Why… _how_ are the Matthews and everybody else even here?"

"Henry, not now," Regina snapped, keeping most of her focus on the adversarial lawyer represented in Topanga Matthews.

"Wait a minute," Topanga snapped, holding out her hand in a 'Stop!' gesture. "Who are you to speak to Henry in that way? You're the Mayor, as I recall. Not his teacher, or the principal, and certainly not…"

"I'm his mother for your information, Mrs. Matthews," Regina snarled, the 'Evil Queen' rearing her head at the confrontation with another Alpha-Female.

All of the visitors looked at the Mayor, stunned, but Topanga went one further than that, shouting out, "No you are not! _Emma_ is Henry's mother! I should know, they lived in my apartment building for over a year!"

Wincing, Emma quickly stepped forward and blurted out, "Regina is Henry's adopted mother. She raised him." At the stares she received, she shrugged helplessly and added, "It's complicated."

"Wait, so Henry," Riley spoke up from just behind the young man in question, "you have _two_ moms? Is it like that old TV show or…"

"Yeah," Maya grinned mischievously, always eager to get more dirt on the people around her. "Is this an ' _OR_ …' situation, Hank?"

"Do not call my son, _Hank_ ," Regina snapped, but reigning her tone in enough so it was a gentle rebuke. "His name is Henry. I named him after my own father, if you truly must know."

"Look, before anybody else talks about me like I'm not even here," Henry shouted, "Would somebody _please_ tell me what is going on?"

"Well it's like this…" Riley began, almost trailing off into some kind of flashback conversation/moment, but Henry held up his own 'Stop!' gesture.

"Farkle," Henry called, pointing at the skinny boy in a turtleneck. "Help us out here? Please?"

"Farkle-time then?" he grinned, his whole being lighting up with barely-contained enthusiasm.

"No free classrooms, do the hallway version, please," Henry offered.

" _Farkle_ time?" Regina whispered to Emma, completely confused. The blue-eyed blond just nodded and indicated for the dark-eyed brunette to be patient for a bit longer.

"Well, it all actually started the day after Henry didn't show up for school," Farkle began. "Riley and Maya were curious, which got me curious, and Lucas being Lucas, he just outright asked Mr. Matthews what had happened and that is when he told us that Henry had been taken out of his school, citing 'family issues'." Here, Farkle did the whole air-quotes thing, and his tone indicated he believed they were "family issues" about as much as he believed that the sky was a giant bowl with holes punched into it.

"After class that day, Riley asked her friends if there was anything we could do, or find out to see what had happened to Henry, and then Maya pulled me aside and basically threatened me to find out what happened… _or else_." He growled out the last two words in a very pale imitation of what the short blond had actually said.

"Maya!" Riley screamed, outraged that her best friend would actually threaten their other friend.

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" she defended herself.

Emma grew a contemplative look on her face, before the answer came to her in a burst of insight. "Belle," she said suddenly, speaking to Regina. "She's been e-mailing lots of experts and professors and…" the older blond paused and looked right at Farkle, "... and other genius types, to help with… her problem?"

Shrugging helplessly, the boy genius gave them a boyish grin and replied, "Henry and Miss Emma might've come up a few times in our e-mails."

"How _exactly_ did you guys get here?" Emma suddenly asked Topanga and Cory.

"Farkle has GPS coordinates, we went to the coordinates," Topanga replied, arms crossed. "I'll admit, we got turned around a few times, but Riley insisted we find out what happened to you guys, and well, after almost turning back, next thing we know… you're pulling us over."

"Is somebody going to answer the important question here?" Riley interrupted. "What happened to you guys? Why did you leave without a word, and why did you move _here_ of all places? I thought you both loved New York."

Emma winced and looked to Regina for help. The Mayor frowned, keeping her own arms crossed, but consigned herself to having little chance of intimidating these people into leaving. In addition to that, there was the fact that they _somehow_ got past the border, and until they knew how that had happened, it would be smart to keep them all close at hand.

"This is hardly the time or the place for this discussion," Regina finally pronounced. "In addition to it being a school day, there is at least another two hours of lessons that Henry must attend. Have… you all, even managed to procure accommodations for yourselves?"

"Well, no, but then rather than being taken down to the police station, we found ourselves being escorted to the local school. Which, being a private institution or not, really should be observing national holidays that allow for three or four day weekends," Cory defended. "I'm just sayin'."

"Hm, yes," Regina coldly remarked. "Well, if necessary, we can convene at the Sheriff's office, after school hours, and once you have managed to assuage yourselves of our local lodging facilities. I recommend Granny's Bed&Breakfast, just off of Main Street. Henry, please return to class, and after school make your way to Miss Swan's office. Sheriff?" She then spun on her heels and stormed off.

"Yes ma'am, Madam Mayor," Emma sarcastically remarked. She glanced back at her visiting friends and shot them an apologetic grin. "Look, check into Granny's, and I'll meet you all at the Sheriff's office. I'll explain everything then, I promise."

The red-leather-jacket-sporting blond then hurried after the dark-haired mayor, before turning and calling out over her shoulder, "Oh, and welcome to Storybrooke!"

TBC...?


	2. Chapter 2

"OK, what's the plan?" Emma asked, once the two of them were secured away in the privacy of the Mayor's office.

"Plan?" the reformed Evil Queen said darkly, her voice raising by the second. "Plan?! You want to know what the _plan_ is, Miss Swan?! The _plan_ is to not bring strangers that could potentially destroy our very way of life into town! The plan was to get everything back to normal, not add yet another wrinkle to the tapestry of our lives!"

"I didn't _invite_ them!" Emma defended herself. "They _literally_ just now showed up, Regina! If I hadn't caught them on their way into town during my daily patrol, whose to say _what_ they could've seen before now. I mean, what is the plan on getting them out of town, so they don't _want_ to stick around, like I did."

The blond sheriff shot the dark-haired mayor a very pointed look, which the older woman had to acknowledge was valid. Her… method for driving Emma out of Storybrooke had failed spectacularly, and from a five minute conversation with the woman, Regina already knew that she did not want to risk it failing again with Topanga Matthews. So rather than 'drive them off', she switched gears into making them want to leave because there wasn't anything to keep them around for.

"Fine," Regina said, calming herself, and noting the Sheriff also taking a breath and relaxing somewhat. Although not entirely.

"Fine. But first, I need you to explain to me exactly who these people are, and why they would go so far to check on you and Henry like this," she said. "I understand that you met them during the year you spent in New York, under the last curse's effects. I understand that they probably think that you are Henry's only mother…"

"Which I am not," Emma insisted, stepping forward. "You are as much his mother as I am. No matter _what_ memories you look at. We'll… figure something out, to tell them. The most I ever told people in New York about mine and Henry's… situation, was that his father left me before he was born, I gave birth to him in prison, and then, uh…"

"Raised him on your own," Regina supplied. "I know, Miss Swan. I was the one that gave you those memories, if you'll recall."

"Actually…" Emma frowned, and scratched her head. "Huh… Actually, Regina… that is actually it. I only told people, including the Matthews, that much when asked about Henry's father. The rest, I said we moved down from Boston, needing a fresh start. I, I recited that like, a dozen or more times, I think. Never thought it was weird until this moment. Everything else, people just made their own assumptions. I never _actually_ talked about _why_ or what made "us" move from Boston, only that we moved to New York to get a fresh start. And, that I used to live in Boston. Might want to check with Henry to see what he remembers telling people."

"So… we then just need to come up with a reason for why you and Henry would be living, alone, and why I, who adopted and raised him, would let him leave without even once checking up on him," she said, contemplating.

"Missing? An accident?" she suggested. "Any one of the hundreds of soap opera excuses that we might be able to come up with and have everybody agree with?"

"What was the initial reason you gave when you came back to Storybrooke?" Regina asked. "To everyone that you knew, that is, not to Henry."

"Uh…" Emma avoided her gaze, looking down, her rosy cheeks getting that much rosier all of a sudden.

"You just left, didn't you?" the brunette coldly remarked.

Emma remained silent.

"Call your parents, get them here, and anybody else that might actually be useful in this. Or rather, anybody that will slip up in front of these… people," Regina ordered.

"Hey, they're nice people," Emma defended the Matthews.

"They're outsiders, one of whom is a New York lawyer, with enough connections, and moral convictions that I will openly and freely admit to wishing to _avoid_ a confrontation with if I can at all help it," she logically pointed out.

"Fair enough," Emma acknowledged. "I'll give Granny and Red a heads-up first."

"Oh," Regina started. "Ruby… er, Red, she left the other day. Snow, uh, told me about it when we did that official change-of-mayor-thing. After the Snow Queen's defeat, Red wanted to go back to the Enchanted Forest and try and find others of her kind, or some hogwash like that. Apparently, my... sister had a magic bean in reserve, and Red found it, and left with a handful of other malcontents to go back to the Enchanted Forest."

Emma just stared, her cellphone halfway to her ear. Regina just shrugged and moved over to sit at her desk.

"Right, thanks for keeping me in the loop there," the blond sarcastically replied. "Granny, not sure if you know this already or not, but there are a couple strangers in town…"

"In the meantime," Regina said, mostly to herself, "I'll reach out to the ones we _really_ don't need the Matthews running into." She pulled out her cell phone and hit the speed dial. "Snow? We need to talk."

OUAT_GMW

Later that day, the Charming Clan and the Matthews Clan were seated together around the Sheriff's office. The 'adults' were scattered about the small office space, but all facing inward towards one another, in particular the same one that had brought them all together in this time and place. The kids were mostly just 'playing' by the two jail cells, Maya and Riley in particular, with Henry standing solemnly between the two groups as a sort of bridge.

It had been decided to use the Sheriff's office as it was the most 'neutral' ground the Storybrooke residents could think of. The Mayor's office, while more comfortable, was out of the question until the arson damage could be repaired. Granny's was too public, and it just made no sense at all to meet in Snow and Charming's loft apartment, even if it did end up being where they had most of 'these kind' of talks these days.

"So," Topanga started things off once everyone was more or less settled. "Who wants to go first? Because it is not going to be us, Cory, Riley!" She said this last part more as an order to her two family members.

"It's kind of a long story," Emma said, shrugging. "But then, that is why everyone is here after all. OK, so, first off, just to refresh my memory, what did Henry and I tell you about why we'd moved to New York?"

"That you were looking for a fresh start," Riley answered, coming out of the right hand jail cell while Maya peeked through the bars of the left hand one.

"Yes, I was particularly impressed by how many ways you could say the same thing over and over," Cory pointed out with a somewhat goofy expression on his face. "I think my favorite was 'My son and I were seeking the enlightenment of the big city after the disappointment of the lack of northern hospitality by having everyone ask about my past all the time'." They all stared at the curly haired man and he sheepishly resumed his seat behind one of the office desks. "Well, it was my favorite."

"Yeah," Emma smirked, eyes glazed over in fond memories. "I remember that dinner. What was the thing going on that week, Riley? Oh yeah, some girl was trying to flirt with Lucas and Auggie met Ava."

Suddenly, everyone was looking over at Riley and Lucas, who was standing in front of Maya's closed cell door looking _very_ uncomfortable, as the brunette reached out and 'brushed some lint' off of the taller boy's broad shoulders.

"You, uh, don't still hang out with Missy Bradford, do you, Lucas?" she asked, puppy-dog-eyes on full.

"No, uh, I think she moved onto other boys, or something," he said unconvincingly, fully aware that everyone was looking their way. "Besides, Riley, you already said, that is when we all became friends. You, me, Maya, Farkle, and Henry."

"Back on topic, _Sheriff Swan_ ," Topanga interrupted.

"Right," the blond took a deep breath, scratching the back of her head before going with the story they'd all worked out beforehand. As difficult as it was going to be, it was their only option at this point.

"So, first off, some things that I have to confess," she began. "Not that I exactly lied to you guys or anything, but, well, things are kind of complicated. So, please, just let me get this out of the way, tell my story, and then after I've finished we'll answer any lingering questions, all right?"

"We're listening," Shawn spoke up from his seat on the desk Cory was sitting at.

"So, yes, Henry is my biological son," she said. "But, I gave him up for adoption when he was born and Regina here, Mayor Mills, adopted him. She raised him here, in Storybrooke, until pretty much the year that we both showed up in New York. Then I got a call that Henry's biological father was back in town and we came to find him. He… died. As for why we didn't move back to New York, well, we just…"

"We have family here," Henry interjected. "And this is where we belong. Look," he was now speaking to the other teens, "I love you guys and you're all my friends. But I have to stay here. Not because anybody is making me, but because I _want_ to stay here. We'll stay friends no matter what. Just…"

"Farther away?" Maya sarcastically remarked. Henry shrugged helplessly and nodded his head.

"What kind of 'friends' is that, anyway?" Riley demanded, throwing her arms up. "How can we be the same kind of friends if we aren't there with each other everyday, having the same experiences, and changing each others lives?"

"Long distance friends?" Farkle 'helpfully' provided.

"Guys, look," Henry blurted out, "My family is here. And, honestly, Storybrooke is an awesome place, once you get to know it. The things that I missed the most about the city was you guys, but… I can't just leave my family to go back just because we miss each other."

"And," Emma stepped in, "quite obviously it isn't like you guys couldn't ever see each other again. We can totally make plans for vacations and skype chats and other stuff. It's just… the off-season for the town, at the moment, so, not really a lot to see or do or pretty much anything."

"While that is all well and good," Topanga spoke up, "We seem to be skirting around the real issue of why we came all the way out here in the first place, _Sheriff Swan_. Which is, why you and Henry moved away without a word to anyone?"

"The kids aren't the only ones that missed their friend," Cory added, standing over his wife's shoulder.

"Guys, I…" Emma started to speak, a bit choked up. "I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt anybody, but… things happened, and they happened fast. I didn't really think things out ahead of time, I just… reacted."

"Yeah," Topanga nodded, arms crossed. "I remember. That's how you roll, right?"

Emma shrugged helplessly.

"So," Farkle asked, curious, "what exactly happened that made you leave in such a hurry anyway? You guys kind of just… vanished overnight."

"Oh yeah, and we haven't heard from Walsh either," Corey commented, quite innocently. "I totally thought he was going to propose and everything, and I'd almost convinced Topanga that you'd just run off and eloped or something. Until _Farkle_ came up with his evidence!"

"Evidence?" Emma repeated, struggling to keep her face as straight as possible, while most everyone else from Storybrooke, Henry included, turned away or grimaced.

"Mrs. Gold… Belle," Farkle elaborated. "She told me she knew Henry, after I'd already mentioned him in a few of our e-mails. We exchanged photos. She sent me the one of you and Henry by some old well in the woods with a time and geo stamp."

Emma groaned, covering her eyes as the sequence of events all came together in her mind.

"I take it that you and Walsh broke up then?" Topanga questioned.

"Something like that," the older blond answered without thinking.

"Is that why you left?" Riley asked innocently, unaware of the painful memories her question brought forth.

"Something like that," Emma repeated with a sigh, rubbing her face. "Short answer; yes. I… Walsh wasn't the man we thought he was. Let's just… leave it at that. Please?"

The way the whole room, save for the New Yorkers, winced and had sour expressions was what ultimately convinced Topanga 'control-freak' Matthews from pushing any further. Even she knew when to back off.

"Why don't we send the kids off on their own?" the New York lawyer finally suggested. "Let the adults talk, without censoring our words, or facing uncomfortable questions. Henry, I'm sure there is lots to entertain young people around town. If you don't mind playing tour guide that is?"

Looking up, Emma nodded at her son, saying, "Go on, Kid, get outta here."

"It's all right Henry," Regina also nodded to her son. "We'll take care of things here. Go be with your friends." She smiled, almost involuntarily at the mere thought of her son having actual friends. It was a nice feeling.

"Come on guys, I'll show you around," Henry nodded and lead all the young people out of the Sheriff's Office.

TBC…?


End file.
